


Fragile Heroes

by YukiRiikus_Reading_Room



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Drunkenness, Established Relationship, Hospitals, Love, M/M, Near Death Experience, Tony Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-11
Updated: 2013-01-11
Packaged: 2017-11-25 02:08:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/633980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukiRiikus_Reading_Room/pseuds/YukiRiikus_Reading_Room
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Hulk and Iron Man aren't fragile, but that doesn't mean Tony and Bruce aren't.  When Steve pushes Tony to the edge, it forces Bruce to see just how easily he can break.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fragile Heroes

The Hulk was not fragile.

But Bruce was.

A throwaway comment about how the Hulk was “actually useful” on missions was all it took to break his self-esteem, not that anyone but Tony could tell.  Bruce had become used to bottling up his emotions so that people panicking that the Hulk would break out every single time he got upset, now it was nearly impossible to tell when he was bothered by something. 

Bruce thought he was the master of his emotions.  He thought he could handle anything anyone could throw at him after trying for so long to keep his feelings under wraps.

He was convinced he was incapable of crying about anything anymore. 

———

Iron Man wasn’t fragile.

And one night, a little too drunk and pissed off after a fight with Rogers about his relationship with Bruce being dangerous and unhealthy for both of them, Tony decided he wasn’t fragile either.

But bones aren’t made of titanium alloy.  They can break, even when emotions tell you they won’t. 

———

Bruce was with Natasha when he got the call. 

He didn’t know Tony cared about him that much, he’d never told Bruce he’d put him down as the next of kin to contact if something happened.  When he found out he’d gotten the call before Pepper even, Bruce knew.

Tony really did love him.

All those sleepless nights in the lab they spent looking through microscopes while talking about dinner plans for the next night, the take out lunches eaten in Tony’s classic car collection, the days Tony forced him to take off work and won’t let him out of bed…

He really did care.

And here Bruce had been thinking he didn’t, that he was just a fling.  Here he’d been thinking it was time to leave before he got his heart broken.

———

He’d never seen Tony as fragile.

Then again, he’d been convinced he couldn’t cry, too.

But as he approached the hospital bed, the floodgates opened.  Tony was too weak to even grip the hand that slid into his, but when he looked into Tony’s face, he saw comprehension there.  He saw love. 

He saw pain.

Steve wouldn’t come into the room, but he didn’t know why.  He cried in the hallway outside the door, but wouldn’t come in.  Even if Tony could have spoken, Bruce was sure he wouldn’t have told him why Steve was being weird.  For once, he didn’t want to work out what that could mean. 

In the evening, as Tony grasped consciousness, Bruce crawled into bed beside him staring down into the bruised face he adored.  More than anything, he wanted to be strong for Tony, to tell him he would be strong for him, but he knew he couldn’t.

“I love you,” Bruce whispered, “even when you make me fragile.”


End file.
